See Me As I Am
by cyborgsandrabbits
Summary: Avengers college AU. Tony starts college not really expecting to click with anyone, definitely not make any real friends. Basically, he was not expecting to meet Steve Rogers.


**AN: I'm european, so I don't really know that much about the american college system so I'm really sorry if it's portrayed badly. Advice on how to make it better/more realistic is most welcome!**

See me as I am

**Chapter 1**

Seeing Tony Stark at school, you would easily assume he's a guy with loads of friends. How could you not? People surround him almost constantly. But then, there's a really rather significant difference between being popular and having lots of friends. No, truth be told, Tony has exactly two friends: James "Rhodey" Rhodes, and Virginia "Pepper" Potts. Rhodey has been there for as long as Tony can remember, and tends to be fiercely overprotective. Pepper came along in seventh grade, when she moved inn right next to Tony. Of course, when Tony began talking to her he wasn't exactly expecting her to become his best friend. He'd expected it to go about the same way it usually did when he showed the slightest interest in a girl; she'd swoon and fall for him completely, they'd date for about a week or two, and he'd end it. But Pepper seemed to be very nearly immune to Tony's charms. She also didn't seem to care at all about the fact that he was filthy rich. So, even though Tony still to this day has no idea how it happened, Pepper Potts became his second best friend. Over the years pepper has also learned to become rather overprotective of him. But then, with a guy like Tony, who sometimes simply forgets to eat for several days because he's too caught up in his work, and goes out in the dead of night without telling anyone because he "felt like going for a walk", and who has nearly drunk himself to death simply because he was bored on several occasions, and who doesn't seem to care even when he knows somebody is just using him for his money or fame, it's almost hard not to get a bit overprotective.

To Tony, letting people in has always been difficult. Not even Pepper and Rhodey know him completely. They know the most important stuff though. Like when to spend the night to keep him from falling apart completely, and when to just leave him alone with his work. They know about the incident in Afghanistan, and they know about the arc-reactor. They don't know about many of the other kidnappings. They don't know about Obadiah. Well, they know _about _Obadiah; they know he's been Tony's legal guardian ever since his parents died, and they know that Tony hates him. They don't know about all the times he beat Tony. Or about the times he threatened him. Whenever they'd notice bruises that weren't there before, he'd just say he injured himself working on some project.

Now, starting college, he might actually have to start letting new people inn. Rhodey's already at a military school that luckily lies not too far away from where Tony's starting college, so he'll be able to visit at times, but not often. Pepper's still got a year left of high-school. She and Tony are the same age, but Tony graduated a year early. But it's not like he needs his friends by him at all times. He'll just learn and party and have fun. He doesn't need friends to do that. He's been trying to convince himself of that for some time now. He doesn't need friends. It's not like he expects to gain new friends. Yeah, sure, people like hanging out with him from time to time, and he's generally easy to talk to (unless you let him talk for too long, as he'll just end up talking about physics and whatnot), but he's convinced that if he tries to let anyone in, let them really get to know him, they'd just leave. He's still amazed that he's managed to keep Rhodey and Pepper as long as he has. In pepper's case, he's still amazed he even managed to let her in at all.

"Pepper, everything's fine, stop worrying! Yes, I have eaten today. Jeez, pep, I'm not even there yet!" Tony's sitting in the backseat of a shiny, black, obviously expensive car, talking to a very worried Pepper on the phone. Not that she has anything to be worried about. Tony's just starting college, it's not like he's joining the army or something. "Look, I'm nearly there, I'll call you tonight and tell you everything you so desperately need to know, okay?" pepper sounded a bit bitter about him wanting to hang up on her, but she gave in.

He could have been driving the car himself, but he has to admit having Happy there is a bit reassuring. Besides, he prefers to just watch the world glide by and let his thoughts drift, while listening to music with an ear-shattering volume, so it's nice to have somebody to drive the car for him. They've been driving for nearly four hours, and are getting nerve-wreckingly close to the place Tony will live for the next few years. Of course, he could have bought or rented some huge, expensive luxury apartment, or even a house. But he figured that, since he's going to college, he might as well get the whole experience, dorms and all. The campus is placed at the outskirts of a rather large city, but the area around it seems more like a small town. Tony looks out of the window and realises that he can actually see the campus now. The excitement and nervousness that was already there intensifies. It looks nice, though. There are coffee shops and small stores lining the road, and there's a small park right by the entrance to the largeish campus. There are some people sitting on the few benches, and some lying in the grass in small clusters of people. Most of the people seem to be there with friends, and some appear to be studying. It looks like something out of an advertisement (in fact, Tony's almost positive he remembers seeing pictures from that very park on the website), with the low, but bright afternoon sun, and the beautifully coloured leaves of the autumn. He notices a blond guy sitting by himself on one of the benches, facing the road. The guy has something in his hands, a sketchpad, Tony notices. He finds himself wondering if the guy's any good. He's probably an art major or something. His thoughts are pulled back as Happy slows the car. They've stopped along the sidewalk. Tony looks out at the campus. The dorms and lecture halls seem to be all over the place, and he wonders how the hell he's ever going to be able finding his way around. Thankfully he's already gotten a sheet with his dorm number, room number, and a small map explaining how to get to said dorm. Happy steps out to retrieve Tony's trunk from the car. Tony opens his door and exits the car as well. He stretches slightly (really, after four hours of sitting you tend to get a bit stiff), and looks around. It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, and Tony can't wait to get inside to set up some of his projects and get to work. He can see several people all but staring at him from the window of the coffee shop they parked right by. He sighs. He'd expected people to recognize him. He is pretty famous, after all. Child prodigy, genius, billionaire, son of the great, late Howard Stark. He puts on a pair of dark sunglasses, says goodbye to Happy, takes his trunk, and enters the campus, his new home.

There are lots of people around, some with trunks and bags, who've clearly just arrived as well, and some who seem to feel very much at home, who Tony assumes have been there a while. Several heads turn towards him, but so far no one has tried to talk to him, thankfully. He hears somebody ask their friend, rather loudly "Is that Tony Stark?" This leads to more heads turning. Tony keeps walking. He wonders if they knew he was coming. They'd mentioned it in some magazines and stuff, so some of them probably did. He picks up the little map and starts walking in the direction he thinks must be right. Truth be told, it's a really shitty map. When he's walked in that direction for a while and found nothing but more students and some lecture halls, he figures he must be going the wrong way. He's in building 5. He figures maybe he should start thinking logically, so he begins taking mental notes of which buildings he finds next to each other. He gives up on that tactic when he finds building nr 2 next to building nr 10. Now he's just looking around at where the other students are going, which is everywhere. He sighs. He's annoyed and tired and he hasn't had any coffee since before they left from home. He's just about to give up when he's approached by some guy.

"Hey, are you lost?" the guy asks. Tony notices it's the same guy he saw drawing in the park earlier. "I think I must be, yeah. Do you know this campus makes no sense? Honestly, was it designed by a chimpanzee? No, don't answer that, a chimpanzee could probably do better than this." The tall blonde guy laughs a bit. "Yeah, I did notice that. I arrived only a week ago, so I don't know if I'll be any help, but it can't hurt to try right? Which building are you in?" Tony wonders for a brief moment if this guy knows who he is, 'cause to be honest he kind of wishes he doesn't. Then he registers that the guy asked him a question, and his brain catches up on the conversation. "Uh, five." The blonde guy laughs a bit more, before saying "Well that works out then. That's where I live. Come on, I'll show you the way. I'm Steve, by the way. Steve Rogers." He holds out his hand and Tony shakes it. "Tony Stark" Steve's eyes widen a bit, in a way that says he's heard the name, but didn't really know it was him. "Oh, you're… I mean, I heard you were coming, well, I heard a famous billionaire named Tony Stark was coming, but I'd expected you to be more of a, well, typical famous person… You just seem so normal. I- In a good way, of course. I'm babbling, aren't I? Sorry, I'll shut up." Tony usually hates it when people make complete fools of themselves because of him, and when people don't know how to act around him, but this time he just can't help smiling. Really, what's so different about this guy? Must be Tony's lack of sleep making this Rogers guy seem more endearing than most people. "Yeah, that would be me. You said something about showing the way?" Steve looked a bit embarrassed. He mumbled a "Right, yeah, 'course," and started walking. Tony can't help but feel a bit disappointed that the smile is gone from Steve's face. Wait, what? No. Since when does he care about random people smiling? Sleep deprivation and lack of coffee. That's the reason, he's sure of it. Steve makes some small talk on the way, about majors and the campus and the like, but he still seems a bit embarrassed about not knowing Tony was, well, Tony. Tony replies where it's needed and makes a few remarks now and then, and even though he's still tired and annoyed at this stupid campus, he really doesn't mind the small talk. Still, he's happy when they finally arrive at the right building.

Steve's room is one of the first ones inside, so he says bye and leaves Tony to find his room. As soon as he finds the right room, Tony opens the door, puts his trunk right inside, and falls face-down on the nearest bed. There he lies for about five seconds, after which he hears a confused and slightly amused "Um, hi..?" Tony sits up to see a dark-haired guy sitting by a desk, facing him. He wonders for a short while why there is some random dude in his room, before he remembers that, hey, this is a dorm room you idiot, you're supposed to have a roommate. "Right, yeah, hi. Tony Stark. I'm your new roommate I suppose." The guy's eyebrows rise slightly once he sees Tony's face properly. "Yeah, I heard you were coming. Didn't know you'd be my roommate though. I'm Bruce Banner, nice to meet you." The guy, Bruce, seems a bit surprised, but he doesn't look at all starstruck, thankfully. He seems to give off a certain vibe of something Tony can best describe as apparent respect. That is kind of a new thing to him. He is used to being looked at with basically anything from downright hatred to utmost admiration. The thing about that admiration though, is that it usually exists because of his charm, money, and not to mention fame. Somehow, he doubts Bruce really cares about any of that. Of course, he could be wrong, he doesn't know the guy. He just doesn't seem like it. Tony looks at the desk Bruce is sitting by, and notices that it's covered in all kinds of chemicals, containers, and equipment. "What're you working on?" he asks, and he genuinely wants to know. Bruce starts to explain, and suddenly they're in a long conversation regarding so many different types of science, it would probably shock their professors. They talk like that until Tony simply can't stand up anymore. He falls asleep thinking that, hey; maybe this won't be that bad after all.


End file.
